204 MAGIC LANTERN. Chap. XVI. 



must be to God to see his children selling one another, I 

 declined her also. If I could have taken her into my family 

 for the purpose of instruction, and then returned her as a free 

 woman, I might have done so ; but to take her awa} T , and 

 probably never be able to secure her return, would have 

 produced a bad effect on the minds of the Balonda. 



Shinte was most anxious to see the pictures of the magic 

 lantern, but I was so weakened by fever that I could not go 

 for several days ; when I went he had his principal men and 

 the same crowd of court beauties near him as at the reception. 

 The first picture exhibited was Abraham about to slaughter 

 his son Isaac, the knife uplifted to strike the lad ; the 

 Balonda men remarked that the picture was much more like 

 a god than the things of wood or clay they worshipped. I 

 explained that this man was the father of a race to whom God 

 had given the Bible, and that our Saviour came of his seed. 

 The ladies listened with silent awe ; but, when I moved the 

 slide, the uplifted dagger moving towards them, they thought 

 it was to be sheathed in their bodies instead of Isaac's. 

 " Mother ! mother ! " all shouted at once, and off they rushed, 

 tumbling pell-mell over each other, nor could we get one of 

 them back again. Shinte, however, sat bravely through the 

 whole, and afterwards examined the instrument with interest. 

 An explanation was added after each exhibition, so that no 

 one should imagine there was anything supernatural in it. 

 It was the only mode of instruction I was ever pressed to 

 repeat. The people came long distances, for the express 

 purpose of seeing the objects and hearing the explanations. 



These chiefs are so proud of the honour of having 

 strangers residing in their villages, that it is difficult to effect 

 a departure. An additional cause of delay arose from the fre- 

 quent rains — twenty-four hours never elapsing without heavy 

 showers. Here the winds from the north always bring heavy 

 clouds and rain, while in the south the heavy rains come 

 from the north-east or east. The thermometer falls as low as 



72° when there is no sunshine, though when the weather is 

 fair it generally rises as high as 82° in the shade, even in tho 

 mornings and evenings. 



24:th. — We expected to have started to-day, but Sambanza, 



tvho had been sent off early in the morning for guides, 



